When VW Sold a Golf with Different Colored Panels (Intentionally)

"hethoughtofcars" (hethoughtofcars)
01/25/2014 at 16:14 • Filed to: volkswagen, marketing, harlequin, golf

In the mid-90's my first two cars were VWs, clearly showing the kind of insane brand loyalty in the face of a clearly inferior product that only a teenager, or Apple enthusiast, can manage. I remember learning of the crazy mash-up Golf (or maybe even seeing one, although that's unlikely: this is a prime candidate for Doug DeMuro's Plays with Cars.com " !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! " columns) around 1998 when my MK2 Jetta was slathering Los Angeles's streets with approximately a half quart of oil a day. I remember thinking: 1) Only in LA! (ha-ha) and 2) I guess I can understand why no other automaker in the history of the automobile had done this before...and, um, on purpose. Since accessing the internet in those days required your computer making a noise like it was being tortured, making your phone give a busy signal (remember those?) to anyone who tried to call you, and also would have taken an image like the one you are looking at approximately two minutes to download LINE-BY-LINE (and you were paying by the minute!), I had no way of learning any more about Volkswagens outside of the occasional copy of Hot VW magazine. In fact I kind of thought maybe there had been only a one off or someone's eccentric idea of car ownership (only in LA!). This was also pre-New Beetle-mania when VW could barely give away Golfs, much less come out with wacky special editions for them.

Turns out nope, for 1) Somehow it had gotten approved by someone somewhere and had presumably gotten so far along in production that it couldn't be stopped, and 2) it was actually popular (in Europe and kind-of, but not really). Also it had a name: the Harlequin edition. It started with the VW Polo, which I had seen listed at the bottom of comparison tests in British car magazines you could sometimes buy for $9 at Barnes & Noble. The Germans, who consider the Golf a family mid-size car, took its smaller sibling and switched up the panels (maybe as the Deutschland version of a "senior prank"?) one day and presumably just said "schrauben*" and shipped them with the fanciful name "Harlequin". Since I only know Harlequin as the Joker's sidekick on Batman: The Animated Series I had to look it up. Apparently it is an adjective meaning variegated, mult-colored, psychedelic, many-hued, etc. It's also a small, fast duck that lives in the Arctic.

In any case, getting back to how American's ended up with almost 265 (264, to be exact) of these Golfs, enough Europeans bought the initial batch of 1000 Polo Harlequins that another printing was ordered up. The people of VW of America apparently got wind of this and knowing they would all soon be out of a job soon (VW was seriously considering pulling out of the American market entirely), decided to go out in a blaze of variegated, multi-colored, psychedelic, many-hued glory. The reason they didn't do this to the Jetta presumably being the knowledge that all Americans love small, under-powered, European hatchbacks (especially if they are only sold with a manual transmission).

Honestly I'd love to see one of these today. It's a crazy relic from a time when VW would try anything to sell cars (Not really: W8 4Motion Passat? v10 Toureg TDI?!?) instead of the American-ized blandness they've evolved into. A Google image search came up with pictures of not just the mkIII Golf, but also fan(?)-made mkII, mkIV, and mkV versions too. I also found !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! about this guy who swapped the anemic 2.0 8 valve mill (that they were still putting in American Jettas LAST YEAR) with a VR6.

So apparently they are still out there, and there apparently are people who actually like the look. For me, though, like most red-blooded Americans I prefer my small, under-powered, European hatchbacks with manual transmissions in just one color (or two if it's a MINI).

*Google Translate for "Screw It"

*Update* I asked my friend who has been a VW service technician at a local dealership for the last 12 years if he'd ever seen one and he replied 'Nope, not even a fake one.'

DISCUSSION (30)

Gimmi-Sagan-Om-Draken > hethoughtofcars
01/25/2014 at 16:20

I saw one in Germany a couple years ago, I hate them

Frank Grimes > hethoughtofcars
01/25/2014 at 16:22

I love them. I dont know why. I would like to make a replica one in todays colors. which might look better because it would be like different silvers and grays.

Boxer_4 > hethoughtofcars
01/25/2014 at 16:23

Kinja'd!!!

I've seen them before with a wheel of each color (similar this one I found online). They are certainly unique. The vanity plate works well on this example, too.

Boxer_4 > Frank Grimes
01/25/2014 at 16:25

Somebody did it to a MkV Rabbit.

Kinja'd!!!

carlifornia > hethoughtofcars
01/25/2014 at 16:28

The Polo Harlekin is much more common. I'm not even sure, if the Golf has been really for sale at all:

https://www.google.com/search?q=polo+…

Orange Exige > Boxer_4
01/25/2014 at 17:04

That looks dumb.

You see the Harlequin actually had colors...
Different shades of white, black, and gray just make it look like he found body panels at the junkyard.

McMike > hethoughtofcars
01/25/2014 at 17:13

Ha! I posted this in a Harlequin discussion earlier today. When asked if we thought they were cool, I said,

I don't know about "cool," but the rareness and weirdness sure makes them interesting to me. Curious if they'll ever be worth anything*

*other than MK3 Golf fanatics.

Mathias Rios > hethoughtofcars
01/25/2014 at 17:21

If I'm not mistaken I believe some of these Harlequins came with an auto. Not that it's incredibly relevant, but it stemmed from my interest in these cars as well.

SpeedSix > hethoughtofcars
01/25/2014 at 18:46

The Harlequin wasn't exactly a random mish-mash as the colors were coordinated to make sure that no 2 panels of the same color were beside one another anywhere.

Also, I've read that the green color on the Harlequins was never made available on its own in North America.

hethoughtofcars > SpeedSix
01/25/2014 at 20:00

You're right, it wasn't random:

Kinja'd!!!

If it had been there'd be parts leftover I'd imagine. Interestingly, this ad from VW Driver magazine claims it was random and also calls it the "Golf Design". (You should definitely check out that link, it is a registry of the known Harlequins along with tons of info.)

I_AmDeath > hethoughtofcars
01/25/2014 at 23:46

I always forget that these exist but when I see a picture they always make me smile.

I_AmDeath > Orange Exige
01/25/2014 at 23:48

It also looks like he just did the panels you can swap out easily and quickly. How lazy.

atf23 > hethoughtofcars
01/26/2014 at 12:31

When I lived in Monterey, CA, in the late '90s, I saw one of these many times when commuting around town.

Squid > hethoughtofcars
01/26/2014 at 21:23

I've seen a few of them, I guess they were popular in Orange County. . . Nothing more to add other than that. And I've always thought they looked kind of silly.

hethoughtofcars > Squid
01/27/2014 at 00:00

When they only sell 250 or so "popular" is definitely relative. On the other hand they are hard to miss. :)

Squid > hethoughtofcars
01/27/2014 at 00:03

I know that that was a relative term, but when there is/was at least 5 of the 250 sold in one small region of California, I guess you could call it popular. . .

Bandit > hethoughtofcars
01/29/2014 at 20:03

Kinja'd!!!

I like this pic.

M54B30 > hethoughtofcars
01/29/2014 at 20:21

They're big in Germany. For every golf, you'll see 5 Polos or Lupos with this scheme.

M54B30 > hethoughtofcars
01/29/2014 at 20:21

They're big in Germany. For every golf, you'll see 5 Polos or Lupos with this scheme.

Eric Sundell > hethoughtofcars
01/29/2014 at 23:24

the bonus? If you get in a crash, who the hell cares what color replacement body panels you get. Junkyarders delight!

Garland - Last Top Comment on Splinter > hethoughtofcars
01/30/2014 at 00:07

Saw one at a car show last year, then I saw one driving along the interstate a few months ago. Could've been the same car, for all I know.

hethoughtofcars > Eric Sundell
01/30/2014 at 00:26

You'd think, but people are obsessive about these cars. I put it in another reply but I'll put it here too: there is a registry for owner's of these and although the panels look random, they're actually not:

Kinja'd!!!